CH922

The entire day spent flying showed more than anything else how much of a lead Foast had, watching the sun start to set by the time they broke free of the woods and left the untamed lands of the planet, getting to see some signs of logging activity that had gone on down below, telling them all that some sort of settlement had to have been nearby.

“Thera, take us down lower,” Ben told her. “Even if it’s slim, if we see anyone, then I can check to see if they might have found anything.”

“Got it.”

Their craft descended but not so low they could touch the ground. With the light they still had, they could see Abel’s monstrosities running ahead of them, following Foast’s scent as they continued on, finding no one along the way until the edge of a village appeared in the distance.

“Abel?”

“He passed through it.”

“Okay, good. For now, Thera, stop at the edge of the village and let us out. Since we’re here, we’re asking around. Everyone, break into your groups and talk to who you can about if any unfamiliar faces have passed through here in the last few days and if they noticed anything that stood out about them if they did. The more information we can get about whatever might have left Foast cutting contact, the better, even if it’s going to delay us by a few hours.”

By using the power of both Thera and Abel together, he was confident that they’d be able to catch up to him but with no knowledge still about whatever was happening, he judged it best to take the chance at reconnaissance while they had it for whatever clues it might give. With the speed they could move, they had to be gaining on him but still not knowing what they’d find, a couple hours of investigation might mean the difference between life and death.

So with the order given they got out and moved, breaking into their groups and splitting up once they got to the village, Abel quietly sniffing at the air and going of her own way with a look of confusion on her face while Ben and Thera walked by themselves, both instantly able to tell that something was wrong.

“Even if it’s late, you’d still expect one or two people to be out at this time,” Thera muttered.

“Yeah, you’d also expect some noise, or in my case, the presence of even a single soul to connect to in any of the houses we’ve passed.”

“A ghost town then? It’s not like it’s uncommon for some villages to have been abandoned by this point. Not exactly safe to live on the edge of the untamed lands when it’s the hardest area to clear out compared to any demons trying to survive in places with civilization around.”

“Mmh, you’re not wrong, but… something feels off.”

The further they explored, the greater that impression got. Just walking down the streets, it was easy to see that a few doors and windows had been left open, not exactly a priority to deal with when abandoning a place yet still raised alarms in his head.

He was no tracker but he still noticed no signs of a rush, anything to imply that whoever had lived there had been chased out or been in any sort of hurry and without that, not bothering to even lock up behind them couldn’t look anything other than odd.

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Which means we need to investigate the spooky abandoned town while it gets darker and darker. Ugh, I hate it here.

The atmosphere couldn’t help but feel eerie no matter how silly that might have been. So long as it was within the range of his soul, nothing could hide from him and even beyond that, he had his sacrilege and soul sight to tell him if anything was hiding there. What even was there to fear? Ghosts, a phenomenon he’d encountered multiple times since ending up on that world? Monsters, like so many animals there would already look like to the humans of Earth?

Yep, being silly. Okay, for now, the streets aren’t showing anything new. We need a change of scenery, which means…

“I guess we should explore a few of the houses,” he groaned, remembering what a bad idea splitting up always was in horror movies and feeling a pang of regret that he’d gotten his group to do it before entering the village.